Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter written to Chief Secretaries of States have asked them to provide necessary assistance for movement of migrant workers in buses and Shramik special trains arranged for them. Making a reference to the meeting of the Cabinet Secretary with the State Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries which took place yesterday, Mr. Bhalla said, the situation of migrant workers walking on the road and on railway track has been noted with great concern.

Citing the Centre's nod regarding movement of migrant workers by buses and Shramik special trains, he urged , State and UT Governments to ensure that migrant workers do not go by walking on road or railway tracks. Union Home Secretary said, in case, migrant workers are found walking down the road or rail track, they should be counseled and taken to nearby shelters. States have also been asked to ensure food and water to such migrant workers till the time they are facilitated to board the Shramik special trains or buses to their native places.

Mr. Bhalla has asked for cooperation of Governments of all State and Union Territories in running of more number of Shramik special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers can be facilitated at a faster rate. Mr. Bhalla emphasized on the need of allowing smooth movement, including inter-state transit, of all medical professional, nurses, paramedical, sanitation personnel and ambulances for meeting various health requirement seamlessly. He also raised concern regarding reports of few States not allowing opening of private clinics and nursing homes. He asked for unhindered operations to be allowed at all such private nursing homes and medical facilities.

Meanwhile,World Health Organization's Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan today commended India for keeping the Corona virus cases and deaths very low as compared to other countries and said it will play an important role in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

On vaccine development, Ms Swaminathan said the world cannot have enough vaccines for everyone, if India is not part of the process. She said that it is not just enough to develop and test the vaccine, but it is also crucial to manufacture it, scale-up procurement and get health systems to vaccinate populations.

Speaking on the National Technology Day, Ms Swaminathan said that she would like to commend and congratulate the Indian Government for having contained so far the COVID pandemic and having kept both the number of cases and the number of deaths very low compared to other countries.